Washing machine



E. F. BEEBE.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATlON man NOV. 19. 1921.

Patented Dec. 112, 19212.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E. F. BEEBE.

WASHING MACHINE- APPLICATION FILED NOV-19,1921.

Patented Dec 12 9 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

m n u n 3 Patented Dec. 12, 1922. I i

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE I. BEEBE, 01E -MINNEAP OLIS, MINNESOTA.

wasnme MACHINE.

App11cat1on filed November 19, 1921. Serial 1T0. 516,361.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE F. BnnBn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and 5, State of Minnesota, have invented certain the present invention is to improve upon the means whereby the pounders or plungers are cushioned in their-stroke. I

A further object in this connection is to so form the means for transmitting motion to these pounders or plungers that while one plunger is being positively raised to a height sufficient to permit the plunger on on the lower end of the plunger belng raised above the Water line to receive air, the other plunger shall be lowered to an extent permitted by the amount of clothes in the tub, the downward movement of the last named plunger, however, which is limited by the amount of clothes in the tub, not preventing the full rocking of the actuating rock shaft.

A further object is to so construct the plungers and plunger operating mechanism that les mechanism will be disposed above the cover of the tub than is the case in my Patent #1,135,565 before referred to, so that these parts may be enclosed in a housv till another object i .to provide means whereby the plunger actuating mechanism which is mounted upon the cover of the tub becomes automatically disconnected from the driving mechanism when the cover of the tub is raised.

Other objects have to do with the detail of construction and arrangement of these parts, as will be hereafter more fully described.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l 1s a perspective view of a washmg machine constructed in accordance with my invention; I Figure 2 is an elevation looking at one end of the machine, showing the tub and cover in sectlon;

F1gure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the cover and a portion of the plunger actuatingmechanism;

Figure 4 is a sectional view of the cover and the actuating mechanism;

Referring, to the drawings, it I will be seen that the tub 10' is mounted upon a suitable supporting frame which includes the upwardly convergent 1e bar 12 extends across the lower portion of the frame and beneath the tub 10, which tub 10 is supported on a central bearing 13. The tub i provided on its under side with a ratchet ring 14 which is engaged by a dog 15 mounted on a pivot arm 16; A crank 17 is secured on a. horizontal shaft 16 by a link 19. The rotation of the shaft 11. A cross 18, this crank being connected tothe arm- 18 will thus cause the constant intermittent The shaft 18 is mountedin suitable bear ings and carries upon it a gear wheel 20 mounted within a housing 21, this gear wheel being engaged by a pinion 22 within a housing 23. This pinion is mounted up on a shaft 24 carrying upon it the band wheel 25. A band passes over this wheel 25 to a driving wheel 26 mounted upon a motor driven shaft 27. The motor used for driving this machine may be an electric motor, gasoline engine or any other suitable engine of this character, but I do not wish to be limited to the use of a motor as the machine may be operated by hand power, a illustrated in my prior patent.

The cover of the machine is designated 28, and mounted upon the upper ends of the converging legs 11 is a bracket casting.

in the arm 32,

its ends and atone end is provided with the upwardly and outwardly extendmg ears 33 which are pivoted by a transverse bolt 34 to the cars 31. Thi arm 32 carriesupon it the upright 35, to whose upper end is pivoted the latch rod 36. The free end of this rod is received in a recess 37 in the upper end of an upright 39 formed integral with and extending upward from the bearing 30. When this arm 36 is in the re cess 37, the cover 28 is held from any lifting movement. When it is desired to lift the cover, the arm 36 is detached from the recess 37 and then the arm 32 with the cover may be raised.

The arm 32 at its inner end opens into a housing 40, within which the plunger operating mechanism is disposed. The plunger operating mechanism comprises a shaft section 42 carried in suitable bearings withthisshaft section projecting beyond the arm 32 and into the housin 40 and carrying upon its end the yoke 43. hls shaft 42 is a rock shaft. The yoke 43 is an approximately triangular cillates with the rock shaft 42 and has atits outer upper corners the inwardly projectmg pms Loosely mounted upon the end of shaft 42 are two angularly bent arms 45 and 46. These arms are independent of each other.

The outer end of the arm 45 is connected to a plunger rod 47, while the other end of the .arm 46 is also pivotally connected to a like plunger rod 47. The lower ends of these plunger rods car the inverted cups 'or plungers 48. Pro ectmg downward from or through the cover 28is a bracket 49 carrying a-bolt upon which is pivoted the two arms or levers 50. The ends of the arms are forked or bifurcated and embrace the rods 47 and are pivotedthereto at 51. Thus a parallel movement is secured for the rods 47.

Extending upward from each ofthe arms 45 and 46 are integral eyes 52, through which eyes passes a rod 53 having cotter pins or like detachable stops 54 at its ends and surrounding this red 53 and disposed between the eyes '52 is a coil compression spring 55. With this construction, when the right hand side of the yoke 43 in Figure 2 moves upward the pin44 will strike the arm 45 and lift this aim upward, exerting a camming action against this arm. The upward and inward motion of the inner portion of the arm 45 will be transmitted by the corresponding eye 52 to the spring 55, thence to the eye 52' on the arm 46 andthe arm 46 will be correspondingly depressed. If, however, an accumulation of Jolothes within the tub prevents movement of the plunger attached to the arm 46, the arm 45 will continue to move but member and osthe full downward spring 55 will become compressed as soon as the plunger 48 of arm 46 has reached a point Where it cannot move down further. Of course, a like operation is trueupon a reverse movement of the yoke, the arm 46 being in this case lifted and the arm 45 depressed to the full extent which is permitted by the clothes within'the tub.

In order to provide means whereby when the cover 28 is lifted the plunger operating mechanism shall be disconnected from the power, I mount within the bearing 30 a shaft section 56 which at arm 57 connected by a pitman 58 to a crank 59 on shaft 18. Thus as the shaft 18 is revolved, the shaft section 56 will be oscillated. This shaft section carries upon it a sliding clutch member 60 which is keyed or otherwise connected to the shaft 56 to oscillate therewith, this clutch member being urged outward by means. of the spring 61 disposed between the clutch member and the bearing for the shaft 56'. The'shaft 42 at its end is formed to provide a clutch face 62 which is adapted to enga e clutchface of the clutch 60. %t will now be obvious that when the cover is raised, the clutch face of the shaft 42 will disengage from the clutch 60, and that when the cover is lowered the shaft 42 will press inward on the clutch 60 against the actlon of spring 61 and the shaft section 42 56 will be oscillated together. The spring 61 acts to secure a thoroughly good clutch connection between the two clutch faces.

For the purpose of disconnecting the plunger operating mechanism from the driving mechanism when it is desired to operate the wringer, a clutch (not shown) is disposed in the housing 22 and operated by means of 1 a rod 63 which is connected to a handle 64. The particular means whereby with the and shaft section this connection is accomplished, however, I

forms no part of my present invention. I have not illustrated any wringe-r or any means for supporting the same, but it will be understood that a wringer is to be used in connection with the machine.

The advantages of the construction which has been described are as follows: It is necessary in the operation of the machine that the plungers should each be lifted so that they will clear the surface of the water so that air may enter the plungers and be forced into the clothes upon the downward movement of the plunger. Therefore, it is necessary that the plungers should secure a full upward movement, whereas the downamount of clothes in the tub without,,however, in any we. impeding the full oscillation of the she t sections 56 and 42. Furthermore, itlwill be seen that by disposing the second set of arms 50 below the cover 28, I reduce the height of the mechanism above the cover so that I may enclose this mechanism within the housing 40.

Furthermore, in comparison with the construction illustrated in Patent 1,135,565, it will be seen that I have simplified this construction by using only one spring 52 instead of the four springs which were necessary in the construction illustrated in said patent.

Of course, the general operation of the washing machine is obvious. The cups or plungers working up and down alternately, by reason of the spring 55, are ad usted automatically 'to a heavy or light load,.wh1ch gives the desired pressure on all thicknesses of clothes in the tub. Soapy water is forced of the machine, a bearing mounted upon the down through the clothes by the pressure of the air compressed w1thin the cup-shaped plungers 48 and vacuum or suction is caused by the upward movement of the plungers,

which draws the clothes up from the bottom of the tub. ;The tub moves round its axis at each movement of the plungers, thus causing the plungers to act in a new position at each stroke. I

I claim 1. In a washing machine, a tub, an oscillatable shaft, a pair of independent, pivotally mounted arms, plungers pivotally connected to the ends of the arms and extending into the tub, a compression sprlng operatively mounted between the arms and adapted to transmit motion from one arm to the other, and means carried by the shaft for alternately lifting one arm or the other.

2. In a washing machine, a tub, an oscillatable driving shaft, a pair of arms loosely mounted upon said shaft for free oscillation relative thereto and to each other, plungers connected to the ends of said arms and extending into the tub, a compression spring operatively carried by said arms and disposed between the same and transmitting power from one arm to the other, and means carried by the oscillating shaft for alternately engaging one or the other arm to lift it.

3. In a washing machine, a tub, a cover therefor, an oscillatable, power driven shaft mounted upon the cover, a pair of arms loosely mounted upon the shaft and extend ing in opposite directions, a compression spring disposed between the arms and operatively carried thereby and adapted to transmit power from one arm to the other,

plungers carried upon the extremities of the arms and extending through the cover nected at their extremities to the plungers.

4. In a washing machine, a tub, a cover therefor, an oscillatable driving'shaft mounted upon the cover, a pair of oppositely extending arms loosely mounted upon the shaft for independent motion relative to each other, plungers connected to the extremities of said arms and extending through the cover, means connected to the shaft whereby as the shaft oscillates the arms may be alternately raised, and yielding means disposed between the arms transmltting power from one arm to the other.

5. In a washing machine, a tub a cover therefor, an oscillatable driving shaft mounted upon the cover, a pair of oppositely extending arms loosely mounted upon the shaft for independent motion relative to each other, (plungers connected to the extremity of sal arms and extending throughthe cover, means connected to the shaft whereby as the shaft oscillates the arms may be alternately raised, and means for causing the depression of one arm when the other is raised, said means permitting less than a full downward stroke of the arm to be depressed upon a full upward stroke of the arm to be raised.

6. In a washing machine, a tub, a cover,

the cover and supported upon the same, a pair of arms operatively mountedu on the driving shaft above the cover for in ependent movement relative to each other and the driving shaft, a pair of arms operatively mounted upon the cover below the same for independent movement relative to each other, plungers connected to the outer ends of both pairs of arms and extending through the cover, means operatively engaging the driv' ing shaft with the upper pair of arms to oscillate the same, and a housing detachably mounted upon the cover and extending over the upper pair of arms.

7. In a washing machine, a tub, a cover, a supporting frame for the tub, an oscillatable shaft section mounted upon the supporting frame, plungers carried upon the'cover and extending into the tub, a plunger operating mechanism including a shaft section mounted upon the cover and adapted when the cover is lowered to operatively engage the first named section and when the cover is raised to disengage therefrom.

8. In a washing machine, a tub, a cover adapted to close the upper end of the tub, a housing detachably mounted upon the top.

nected to the outer ends of said arms and- I an oscillatable driving shaft mounted above extendin downward through said cover, and a pair of arms pivotally mounted below the cover and connected to said plunger rods,

I and upwardly tapering plungers mounted said arm, the two to the supporting framework upon the lower ends of the plunger rods. I machine, a tub, a support- 9. In a washin ing framework t erefor, an arm hinged to the supporting framework and extending over the cover and attached thereto, plungers mounted in thecoverand extending into the tub, an operating mechanism for said plungers including a shaft section'mounted upon the frame, a shaft section carried by said arm, the two shaft sections having operative engagement with each other 'when thearm and cover are lowered and becoming operatively disconnected from each other when 10.11111 washing machine, a tub, a supporting framework therefor, an arm hin ed and extending overthe cover and attached thereto, plungers mounted in the cover and extending into the tub, an operating mechanism for said plungers including a shaft section mounted upon the frame, a shaft section carried by shaft sections having one a clutch face and the other a sliding clutch member having a clutch face,.and a spring urging said slidin clutch member outward against the other 0 utch face.

11.- -In a washing machine, a tub, a cover therefor, a supporting frame forthe tub, a hollow arm hingedto the supporting frame and attached to the cover, anoscillatable shaft section mounted upon the supporting frame, power 0 rated means for oscillatin I said shaft section, a shaft section mounted within the hollow 'arm, pl is he plunger rods extending throug the cover means connected to the shaft section carried by the arm whereby the plunger rods may be reciprocated, .said last named shaftvsect-ion I having a clutch face, and a clutchmember slidingly mounted upon the first named shaft 45 section and having'fa coact' clutch face,- and a s ring ur g said 0 utch member toward t e secon named shaft section.

12. In a washing machine, a supporting frame, a tub rotatably mounted thereon, a cover therefor held from rotation, a driving shaft, means adapted to be operated-by the drivingshaft for rotating the tub, plungers operating through the cover, means adapted to be connected to the driving shaft for operating the plungers, and means for disconnecting the tub operating and plunger oper ating mechanism from said driving shaft or connecting it therewith.

In testimony whereof I hereunto a-flix my 6 signature. I EUGENE F. BEEBE. 

